Discovering Stella (35 page)

I
couldn’t
help
but
chuckle at
Judy’s
scolding.
Ever
since Mum passed
away,
she was the closest thing I had to a mother figure. Maybe that was
one
of the reasons why I continued to come
here
as
often
as
I did. Being around
Judy,
upholding the tradition Mum, Meg and I had begun by visiting the farm
as
often
as
we did, made me feel closer to Mum. I know that sounds stu
pid, but it
was the truth. When
you
visited places
you’d
visited with
another, or
listened to songs
you’d
heard while in the presence of
another, or
even breathed in smells
you’d
smelled with
another,
sometimes, when
you
repeated those processes,
you
felt that other person right there with you —
it
was
an
illusion driven by mourning hearts.
No idea where that just came from.

Shaking
my
head at
my
weird nostalgic thoughts, I heard
Judy’s
voice,
snapping me back to the
now.
“Lawson!
You
in there?”

My
eyes refocussed and I met
her
perplexed stare.
“Yeah,
yeah,
sorry,
I was just
trying
to remember a few things.”

“She’s
lovely,
by the
way,”
she added in a hushed
voice,
referring to Stella.
“She’s
not
a local, I take it. I
wouldn’t
forget a pretty and polite person such
as
her.”

“No,
she
wasn’t,
but
she is
now.
Stella is
Todd’s
stepsister.
She
moved here
two months
ago.”

She
scrunched up
her
forehead.
“Todd
has a stepsister? Huh,
he’s
never
mentioned
her
before.”

“His mum was married to
Stella’s
dad when
Todd
and Stella were teenagers. So
it
was a while
ago.”

“Ah ...
well,
I’m
glad
she’s
come
into
your life.
It’s
about time
you
shared yourself with a beautiful woman who is worthy of you, and
you
of
her.
And from what I
can
see, Stella appears to be that particular beautiful
woman.”

Wanting
to
avoid
further discussion of
my love
life, I deliberately let
my
eyes wander around the
room,
noticing a heavy iron pot lying
on
the
floor.
Large foam novelty-strawberries were spilling
out
and
over
its edges and,
due
to its odd
position
on
the
floor,
I got the impression
it
was
out
of place.
That’s
when I realised
it
was supposed to be suspended
on
the
wall
— the two heavy-duty, empty hooks protruding from the
wall
above
it
an
obvious clue.
Also
noticing a stepladder
propped
against the
wall
behind the
counter,
I walked behind
Judy
and grabbed it, setting
it
up in the correct
position
before climbing up while holding the heavy-as-fuck pot in
my
arms.

“Aw
...
young man,
you
are
my
knight in shining armour.
I’ve
been wanting that hooked up
for
weeks,
it
was just too heavy
for
me to lift.”

“You
know
I’m
only a
phone
call
away.
Always.”

“Yes,
I
know,”
she said, brushing me off with a flick of
her
hand.
“I
didn’t
want to bother you. And anyway, I knew
you’d
be in
here
soon
enough.”

“All
done,”
Stella announced,
as
she stopped by the foot of the
ladder.

“Wonderful! I’ll just get
you
both a
couple
of
trays.
You’re
going to be spoilt
for
choice. The crop is fabulous this year
thanks
to that recycled water
tank
I invested
in.”

*
 
*
 
*

Stella and I headed
out
and
into
the field. The weather was
per
fect. I was stoked! “This
way,
Princess. I know this field like the back of
my
hand. The bottom left-hand corner has the best of the bunch.
It’s
where the water streams past before
it
goes back
into
Judy’s
irrigation
system.”

“Wow!
You
really do know your strawberries,
don’t
you? I
don’t
know if
I’m
impressed or un
straw, berry
un
straw
.”
Stella’s
mocking
tone went
hand in hand with her failed attempt not to laugh.

Leaning
forward
as
we
walked
along the aisle
between
two
rows of plants — Stella in front of me — I lowered my voice and brushed her
ear
with my lips.
“You
think
you’re
funny,
don’t
you?”

“Yes,
I’m
berry
funny,”
she replied, tilting
her
head just slightly and baring
her
neck
as
she cracked up laughing.
“Oh,
this is
fun.”

I wrapped
my
arm around
her
waist and playfully
bit
into
her
neck while mumbling,
“It’s
fucking annoying,
that’s
what
it
is.”

She
squealed and pulled
away,
turning to face me. I grabbed
hold
of
her
hand and pulled
her
to
my
chest.
“You
ever been strawberry picking before?”

Stella watched
my
mouth
move
as
I spoke, which turned me the fuck
on.
I
loved
it
when she scrutinised
my
lips and
wore
the sexy-as-sin look she
wore
now.

“Nope.
Never picked a berry in
my life,”
she whispered, eyes still
on my
lips.

“Excellent! I get to pop your
strawberry.”

She
cracked up laughing
again
and shoved me backward. “Please, pop
away.”

“Oh,
I
will,”
I said, indicating she should keep
walking
down the path with a nod
of my
head.
“Don’t
worry,
your strawberry
will
be popped before this day is through.”

We
continued
to
walk
down
the small
slope
until
we
were
out
of
sight
and in the
most
private
section
of
the
field.
“Here,
lay
this
down
and kneel
on
it,”
I instructed, handing
her
a foam pad that I had
collected from
the office.
Following suit,
I laid
my
pad
down
as well and placed the tray in between us. “Right,
now
you
want
to
find strawberries that are
dry,
red
all
over
and firm, like this
one,”
I said,
moving
the foliage
aside
and finding a perfectly good
berry.

Stella craned
her
neck to see the
one
I had chosen.

“Now,
to
remove
it,
you
just
twist
the stem and gently
pull.”
I snapped the strawberry from its plant and held
it
up,
displaying a
proud
smile.

“That’s
it?” Stella asked, a little shocked.

I nodded.
“Yep.
That’s
all
there is to
it.”

“Cool!”
She
shuffled
on
her
knees to get comfortable, then peered
into
the strawberry bush before
her,
moving away the leaves so that she could find a berry. Within seconds, she had
her
very first
one
picked. “Strawberry popped!
Was
it
as
good
for
you
as
it
was
for
me?” she asked, delving back
into
the bush
for
another try.

I chuckled.
“You
have no idea
how
good this is
for
me.”

Stella stopped and turned in
my
direction, tilting
her
head slightly and gifting me with the cutest confused smile I’d ever seen. “Why do
you
enjoy
this so much?
It’s
not
a typical male
pastime.”

“It’s
not, so
don’t
tell
anyone,”
I joked.
“No,
in
all
seriousness, Mum and I used to do
it
every
couple
of weeks. When she passed
away,
I kept doing it. I
didn’t
want to
stop.
I
couldn’t.
I feel close to
her
out
here.”

There was silence
for
a
moment,
then Stella shuffled closer and leaned in, brushing
her
lips against mine.
Her
kiss was soft, sweet and gentle.
To
be honest,
it
caught me by surprise.

“Thank
you
for
bringing me
here,”
she whispered when
her
lips parted from mine.
She
then shuffled back to
her
pad and rifled through
her
strawberry bush again.

The beating of
my
heart amplified. Stella and
her
simple
yet perfect gestures fucking undid me every time. I was falling
for
her,
hard and fast. And
it
scared me.
It
scared me because I knew
it
was too soon
for
her
to
fall
with me, and falling
on
your own is
lonely
and
can
hurt like hell.

“Can we eat
some
now?” she asked, holding a berry in
front
of
her
and eyeing
it
hungrily.
I’m
thinking
it
was the same look I was giving
her.
Hell fucking yes, you can. Put that red juicy fruit between those plump, fuckable lips and suck, Princess.

“Yeah,”
I choked
out,
barely able to contain myself,
“of
course
you
can.”

She
smiled and placed the strawberry between
her
teeth,
bit
ing down
on
it
and securing
it
with
her
lips.
My
dick twitched at the sight
of
her
sucking the juice
as
she took a
bite.

“Mmm
...”
she groaned, mumbling
as
she swallowed
her
small mouthful. “These are
delicious.”
Stella then took another
bite,
finishing off the remainder of
her
berry.
“Oh,
this is
not
good. I’ll be eating them quicker
than
I pick
them.”
She
quickly
moved
the foliage aside
again
and yanked another berry free, ready to pop that
into
her
mouth
as
well.